Pirate's Cove

Another day, another prognostication of doom. Do any of the climate youts even know what tinkertoys are?

Climate Change Can Cause Bridges to ‘Fall Apart Like Tinkertoys,’ Experts Say

On a 95-degree day this summer, New York City’s Third Avenue Bridge, connecting the Bronx and Manhattan, got stuck in the open position for hours. As heat and flooding scorched and scoured the Midwest, a steel railroad bridge connecting Iowa with South Dakota collapsed under surging waters. In Lewiston, Maine, a bridge closed after the pavement buckled from fluctuating temperatures.

America’s bridges, a quarter of which were built before 1960, were already in need of repair. But now, extreme heat and increased flooding linked to climate change are accelerating the disintegration of the nation’s bridges, engineers say, essentially causing them to age prematurely.

The result is a quiet but growing threat to the safe movement of people and goods around the country, and another example of how climate change is reshaping daily life in ways Americans may not realize.

“We have a bridge crisis that is specifically tied to extreme weather events,” said Paul Chinowsky, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder who researches the effects of climate change on infrastructure. “These are not things that would happen under normal climate circumstances. These are not things that we’ve ever seen at this rate.”

A 1.6F increase in the global temperature is not going to doom all the bridges. This is a doomsday cult, though, so, there’s always something they can cray doom about.

Read: “Experts” Say Climate Doom Will Make Bridges Fall Apart Like Tinkertoys Or Something »

It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with more and more idiots trying to take selfies and vids of themselves for social media while hiking into areas they are unprepared for and/or dangerous, right, just like we’ve seen the “influencers” do for years now, especially post-COVID? Nope, you fault

Hiker deaths in Grand Canyon rise amid extreme weather linked to climate crisis

More than one dozen park-goers have died in Grand Canyon national park this summer, with three perishing in just over one week in August, as weather extremes linked to climate change make for increasingly dangerous conditions.

With 14 deaths reported in the park this season, total fatalities have already almost reached the annual average of 15, the Hill reported.

One hiker who died, Chenoa Nickerson, was last seen on 22 August above the confluence of Havasu Creek and the Colorado River, National Park Service officials said. Nickerson was reported missing after a flash flood hit the Havasu canyon, and her body was found on 25 August.

The Havasupai tribe reported catastrophic flash floods, which damaged “the main trail to Supai Village, trails within the village, tribal member homes, public utility systems and the campgrounds,” on the day she went missing. An 80-year-old man died when his boat capsized on 25 August, plunging him into the Colorado River, per the Hill.

The average deaths is 12, meaning some years are less and some are more

Heather Klein Olson, the American Hiking Society’s executive director, told the outlet that these deaths involve various factors. An uptick in intense rainfall, as well as development near parks that impact water systems, are among them.

At the same time, there is an influx of visitors after Covid-19. “Everyone is interested and wants to get outside, and it’s beautiful, and we love our outdoors,” Klein Olson told the Hill. “But there’s also a variety of factors that have to be considered when we get outside.”

Not everyone can really hike like that, and aren’t necessarily outdoors people. I took some people up to hike in Hillsborough, highest point west of Winston Salem, and some didn’t do that well hiking up 300 ft vertically. The Grand Canyon is much more, plus, all the water, which can be rough.

A causal link between climate change-induced weather extremes and Grand Canyon deaths remains unclear. But the US has been wracked by record-breaking weather events this year, including a spate of heatwaves that have impacted millions of Americans’ daily lives.

So, they have no idea, but, they’ll still blame it on ‘climate change’. It’s a cult.

Read: Your Fault: Hiker Deaths Increase In Grand Canyon »